1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tray that is to be mounted on a single arm of a user with food containers, such as dishes, plates and beverage containers, glasses, cups and bottles are to be located on the upper surface of the tray to facilitate transportability of these containers to a serving location.
2. Description of the Related Art
Waiters and waitresses within restaurants deliver ordered food and beverages to patrons. Typically, the food and beverages are in the form of dishes, plates, cups, glasses and bottles. One of the functions of the waiter or waitress is to pick up the food from a kitchen station and then transport that food to the table or other serving location where the patron 10 is located. Frequently, the waiter or waitress, in order to minimize the amount of walking between the kitchen location and the patron location, will place and balance two, three or four food containing plates or dishes on a forearm of the waiter or waitress. This leaves the hands free of the waiter or waitress in order to be used to carry other food containing dishes.
The human forearm is not designed as a surface that easily supports food containing dishes. Therefore, it is relatively common to have these dishes that are balanced on one""s forearm to fall to the floor breaking requiring the reordering of the food and obtaining a new serving. Besides being costly, this is time consuming, embarrassing and produces an unsightly mess that needs to be cleaned up by restaurant personnel. To avoid these disadvantages, it would be desirable to create some type of a serving tray which could be mounted on a forearm of a waiter or waitress which could be used to support and transport the food and beverage containing dishes to a serving location within a restaurant which would minimize the possibility of spilling any dish as well as provides additional space facilitating the transportability of multiple food and beverage containers.
The basic embodiment of the present invention comprises an arm mounted tray for food and beverage containers which has a base which has an upper surface and a lower surface. The upper surface has a peripheral edge in the form of a continuous raised lip which surrounds the upper surface. The upper surface may be planar or slightly V-shaped. The V-shape is to function to collect and drain any spilled liquid to one or more openings formed within the upper surface of the base. Each opening connects to a separate internal reservoir formed within either a graspable handle or leg members which are mounted on the lower surface of the base. The leg members and handle facilitate placing of the tray on a supportive surface as well as functioning to positioning the tray onto the user""s forearm.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the basic embodiment is modified by the upper surface of the tray including a drainage groove arrangement including a longitudinal groove.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the longitudinal groove is centrally located relative to the upper surface.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the arm engagement comprises a clamping device located directly adjacent the aft end of the tray.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the basic embodiment is modified by the graspable handle being located directly adjacent the fore end of the tray.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the clamping device is adjustable.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the groove arrangement connects to an opening formed within the upper surface of the tray.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the basic embodiment is modified by the arm engagement comprising a pair of spaced apart leg members.
A further embodiment of the present invention is where the leg members are identical and are also identical to the graspable handle.